VOA慢速英語: 你不需要成為火箭專家（能人）才來看這個（雙語）

You Don't Have to Be a Rocket Scientist to Read This

不需要變成火箭專家（能人）才能看這個

Hello.

你好！

I'm Phil Murray with Words and Their Stories, a program in Special English.

我是慢速英語中詞匯掌故的菲爾·馬瑞，

"You do not need to be a rocket scientist." Americans hear these words often. People say them in schools, offices and factories. Broadcasters on radio and television use them.

“你不需要變成火箭專家（極聰明的人）。”美國人經(jīng)常聽到這句話。在學校、辦公室和工廠，人們經(jīng)常這么說，廣播和電視上得播客也使用這句話表達。

This is how you might hear the words used.

下面就是你聽到人們使用的場合。

Workers in an office are afraid to try to use their new computer system. Their employer tells them not to be foolish: "You do not need to be a rocket scientist to learn this," he says.

辦公室的職員害怕使用新的電腦系統(tǒng)，老板告訴他們不要太傻就會說：“你不必成為火箭專家后才學習這個。”

Or, high school students cannot seem to understand something their teacher is explaining. "Come on," she says. "You do not need to be a rocket scientist to understand this."

或者高中生不明白他們老師講解的內(nèi)容，老師就會說：“來吧，你不必成為火箭專家就能理解這個。”

Or, a company that makes soap is trying to sell its product on television. "Youdo not need to be a rocket scientist to see that our soap cleans better," the company says.

又或者一個制造肥皂的公司想要在電視上銷售它的產(chǎn)品就會說：“你不必成為火箭專家就能看到我們的肥皂去污能力更強。”

These words send a strong message. They say that you do not need to be extremely intelligent to understand something.

這些句子都強烈傳達了一個信息：就是說你理解一些東西不需要極其聰慧。

How did the expression begin?

那這個表達是如何開始的呢？

No one seems to know for sure. But an official of the American space agency-- NASA -- says the expression just grew. It grew, he says, because rocket scientists probably are the most intelligent people around.

沒人知道確切的起源，但是美國國家航空航天局的一名官員說這個表達逐漸形成、使用范圍不斷擴大。使用范圍擴大是因為也許火箭專家是世界上最聰慧的人。

Not everyone would agree.

不是所有人同意這一說法。

Some people might be considered more intelligent than rocket scientists. For example, a person who speaks and reads 15 languages, or a medical doctor who operates on the brain.

或許一些人認為還有比火箭專家更聰慧的人。例如：能夠表達、讀懂15國語言的人，或者能夠做大腦手術(shù)的醫(yī)生。

Still, many people would agree that there is something special about scientists who build rockets. Maybe it has to do with the mystery of space travel.

不過仍然有很多人同意這一表達，因為能夠建造火箭的科學家還是有些特別之處。也許他跟神奇的太空旅行有關(guān)系。

Moving pictures from before World War II showed a man named Buck Rogers landing on the planet Mars. He was a hero who could defeat any enemy from outer space.

畫面移動到二戰(zhàn)前，展示的一個叫巴克·羅杰斯的人登上火星。它是一個能夠打敗外太空任何敵人的英雄。

The rocket scientist is a different kind of hero. He or she makes space travel possible.

火箭專家是另一類型的英雄。他/她能夠使得太空旅行成為可能。

Rocket scientists, however, can have problems just like anyone else.

但是，火箭專家也會像常人一樣有一些問題。

A Washington rocket scientist tells about a launch that was postponed many, many times. Finally, everything seemed right. Mechanical failures had been repaired. The weather was good.

一個華盛頓的火箭專家講述一個發(fā)射被推遲了很多次，最后，似乎一切都準備好了，機械故障修復好了，天氣狀況也不錯。

The scientists had planned that part of the rocket would fall into the ocean after the launch. All ships and boats within many kilometers of the danger area had been warned. But in the last few seconds a small boat entered the area. Once again, the launch was postponed.

科學家設計的那部分的火箭也許在發(fā)射后會掉進海洋，而那一區(qū)域數(shù)千米范圍的船只都收到危險的警告。但是在最后幾秒鐘，一只小船進入該區(qū)域，發(fā)射再一次推遲。

When the work goes well, most rocket scientists enjoy their jobs. One scientist said, "As a child I loved to build rockets. Now I am grown. I still love to build rockets. And now I get paid for it."

所有事情順利發(fā)展時，大部分火箭專家很喜歡他們的工作。一名專家說：“當我還是個小孩子時，就喜歡造火箭；現(xiàn)在我長大了，仍然喜歡造火箭，現(xiàn)在我就要為之付出。”

This program, Words and Their Stories, was written by Jeri Watson.

詞匯掌故由杰瑞·瓦特森編寫。

I'm Phil Murray.

我是菲爾·馬瑞。